Alan Liere’s weekly fish and game report
Fly fishing
Restrictions have been lifted on many Montana Rivers. For a list of those that currently
Salmon and steelhead
The Clearwater River is currently open for catch-and-release steelhead fishing, and guide Bart Jarrett of Northwest Fishing says mornings have been fantastic. A lot of the fish, he says, are two-salt steelhead, which approximate the size of the B-runs of autumn and winter. Jarrett has had his best success drifting eggs.
The Snake River up to the Memorial Bridge is open for catch-and-keep steelhead. A report from a friend who fished there this week said he caught six fish and two were keepers. He said there weren’t many anglers on the water.
The Brewster chinook fishery has been very good this week as the thermal barrier at the mouth of the Okanogan is again keeping the fish in the pool.
Sockeye fishing on Lake Wenatchee is still very good and success has been high. There are a lot of fish in the lake, but they are beginning to turn color as they near their spawning run to the White River.
The 2016 fall chinook forecast is 32,800 hatchery and naturally-produced fall chinook returning to the Snake River basin. The Snake River will open for fall chinook fishing from the Washington-Idaho border upstream to Hells Canyon Dam on Sept. 1.
Fishing out of Astoria, Oregon has been excellent for chinook, but you need to be on the water early.
At Fins and Feathers in Coeur d’Alene, Jeff Smith says the next two weeks will be your last shot of the year at “The Big Boys” – four year old chinook that are heading to the south end of the lake in preparation for their spawning run. Smith says to pull an 11-inch flasher in front of a black or purple squid, or use a fly or herring. The fish are shallow now, so troll at bout 40 feet in water not much deeper than that.
Trout and kokanee
So many kokanee have been taken from Loon Lake this summer it seems impossible the bite remains as strong as it does. Many anglers are limiting in less than two hours. Find 30 feet of water and be patient, sometimes the bite takes awhile to develop. Although it often begins as early as 7:30 p.m., waves from the recreational boaters make the bite hard to detect until the sun is well down.
Trout fishing on the shallow lakes south of Spokane has slowed considerably as water temperatures rise. Driving north to fish some of the deeper lakes like Bead (for kokanee) and Marshall (for trout) can bring better success. North and South Skookum also stay cooler.
Deep Lake in Grant County is still a good place to catch a five-fish limit of 11- to 12-inch kokanee. A trolled pink or orange hootchie tipped with maggots or white corn will do the job.
Rufus Woods is not seeing particularly fast fishing for triploids, but all of those caught recently have been at least 2.5 pounds. Green has been the go-to color for Power Bait.
Lake Roosevelt is not such a sure thing now for the big kokanee, but anglers report catching a few large ones and a lot of smaller ones of hatchery origin. There are also lots of 12-inch rainbow planted this spring. Apexes will take them all.
Anton Jones at Darrell and Dad’s Family Fishing says this is prime time on Lake Chelan. The McCallister family fished with one of Jones’s guides recently, and 13-year-old birthday boy Jack McCallister caught a mackinaw weighing 24 pounds, 4 ounces.
In Idaho, Lake Coeur d’Alene kokanee are only about 9 inches long, but as one angler said, “There are a gadzillion of them.” The limit is 15. Priest Lake kokes are a lot bigger. Most are around 14 inches, but fish as large as 18 inches have come in. The majority are hitting at 50 feet.
Spiny ray
Lake Coeur d’Alene is still booting out good numbers of 24- to 32-inch northern pike. Spinner baits and swim baits have proven effective on the outer edges of weed beds in the morning.
Banks Lake walleye fishing has been excellent. Anglers trolling bottom walkers and Slow Death rigs with nightcrawlers are limiting fairly consistently on decent-sized fish by starting in 35 feet of water and going shallower if the bite doesn’t kick in. The Million Dollar Mile area has been mentioned several times.
Grande Ronde smallmouth are plentiful and cooperative small plugs and tube jigs are currently out-fishing flies for lots of 12- to 14-inch fish – and a few much larger. Anglers floating out of Boggan’s Oasis are finding steady action.
Hunting
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission has approved a restrictive season for sage-grouse. The 2016 season will run from Sept. 17 to Sept. 23, with a daily bag limit of one bird and a possession limit of two birds. The season will take place in the same areas as last year’s hunt, with the exception of re-opening an area in Elmore County east and south of U.S. Highway 20 and north of Interstate 84.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released its report on 2016 Trends in Duck Breeding Populations. Overall duck numbers in the survey area are statistically similar to last year and remain steady. The projected mallard fall flight index is 13.5 million birds, similar to the 2015 estimate of 13.8 million.
Idaho hunters planning trips in the vicinity of the Pioneer Fire north of Idaho City will want to pay close attention to Forest Service closures and be prepared to alter their plans if necessary. To see current area closures and fire boundaries go to Fish and Game’s Idaho Fire Map.
Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com